'Libraries have always been about people': Oak Park library deputy director to retire after 25 years

Oak Park Public Library Deputy Director Jim Madigan attends a Feb. 3 party celebrating his retirement. Madigan will be leaving the library after 25 years. (Brian O'Mahoney/Pioneer Press)

With his final day on the job quickly approaching, Oak Park Public Library Deputy Director Jim Madigan looked back on his years of service by reciting the phrase that is prominently displayed on the wall inside his office.

From his desk, he can read: “The library is not about books. The library is about the ones who read the books and the people who care for them.”

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While library usage has greatly changed in his 25 years on the job, its core mission, he says, remains the same.

“Overwhelmingly, the ways people can get information has changed,” Madigan said. “There’s so many databases, and there’s so much information out there. For me, the libraries have always been about people. People come into the library with desires, needs and interests, and library staff helps connect them with that. That’s always been true.”

After a quarter-century serving patrons at the Oak Park library, Madigan will be retiring on Feb. 8. Though he will be leaving the library, he expects to remain active in the community while pursuing his interests and passions.

“The immediate plan, in the short term, is next week I’m going to take a vacation and go to Ireland,” Madigan said. “This past fall, I had an opportunity to teach a class at the Illinois Institute of Technology and I hope to be able to do that again. It’s important to keep active and intellectually engaged. My plan, right now, is to stay in Oak Park and remain involved in some of the things I’m interested in, including the arts and the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition.”

In addition, Madigan, who recently celebrated his 68th birthday, said he plans to use his free time to visit family, who mostly reside in central Illinois and Colorado.

Madigan grew up in the Edison Park neighborhood in Chicago, and came to Oak Park to work at Oak Park Federal Savings on Lake Street during his high school years. He later attended Rosary College, now Dominican University, in River Forest.

“I’ve been here pretty much since 1973,” Madigan said. “I was executive director of an Easterseals organization on Madison Street, and we provided work for disabled adults. I was not looking for a job, but I was helping a friend do a job search and I came across this ad that looked like it would be interesting.”

That ad, as it turned out, was for his current position at the Oak Park Public Library.

“It turned out to be interesting because I stayed here for 25 years,” Madigan said.

Most days Madigan says he’ll spend time walking around the library, especially its first-floor lobby, to greet patrons and catch up with familiar faces.

“I feel so lucky that I’m able to provide what people perceive as a valuable service to the community that I live in,” Madigan said. “I always run into people that I know. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is people will say ‘How is the library doing?’ The thing I do is turn that question around and say ‘Publicly supported institutions are about what the public thinks.’ So I ask them how they think the library is doing.”

In addition to seeking input from patrons, Madigan says he’ll typically share information about upcoming programs and initiatives that might be of interest to those using the library.

During a special send-off party held Feb. 3, library Executive Director David Seleb called Madigan the “conscience” of the library for bringing his spirit to the building every day.

“That means he will continue to be here with us, in a way that most closely connected to this library and this work will understand,” Seleb said. “Jim’s work and commitment and dedication have ensured the library’s place as the heart of the community. I have never known another librarian who is so committed to the mentoring and to the support and to the education of future librarians.”